INSIDE THIS ISSUE: DEPARTMENTS Legislators North Carolina 2 C A R O L I N A Education 7 deal with Local Government 10 From Page 1 14 dueling tax- Higher Education 17 payer bill of Books & the Arts 20 Opinion 24 rights bills/3 A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF NEWS, ANALYSIS AND OPINION Parting Shot 28 JOURNALFROM THE JOHN LOCKE FOUNDATION April 2013 Vol. 22 No. 4 STATEWIDE EDITION Check us out online at carolinajournal.com and johnlocke.org Durham Retiree Unearths Tax-Fraud Scheme have provided little information about their investigations. The resident asked Phony tax refunds not to be identified. The resident told Carolina Journal from Maryland sent that on March 1 he found correspon- dence from the South Carolina Depart- to resident’s address ment of Revenue in the mailbox on the road at the end of his driveway. He By Don Carrington said he marked the envelope “return Executive Editor to sender” and placed it back in the DURHAM mailbox. fter receiving several pieces of On March 7 he received at his ad- mail addressed to four differ- dress correspondence from the state of ent people at his home address Maryland’s Revenue Administration Aon Sherron Road, and seeing strange Division of the Comptroller’s Office. people checking mailboxes on his He decided to open this one, and he street, a Durham resident concluded found it contained a tax return and a someone was using his mailbox in a note from a state official saying that the tax-fraud scheme. return could not be processed because The letters, which arrived over it did not include a W-2 form. a period of several weeks, were sent That’s when he became con- from state revenue agencies in Mary- vinced that someone was using his ad- land and South Carolina. All were ad- dress as part of a tax-fraud scheme, he dressed to persons with Hispanic-look- said, and decided to shred those docu- ing names, and each letter specified ments. an apartment number at the address, At approximately 3 p.m. March which is a single-family dwelling with 8, while sitting in his house, he saw a Two Maryland tax-refund checks to his address and strangers checking his mailbox no apartments. and others in his neighborhood was what aroused one Durham retiree’s suspicions. woman he did not know open his mail- The resident, a retiree, also has (CJ photo by Don Carrington — house numbers removed digitally by CJ editors) box and look inside. He had retrieved seen someone he does not recognize his day’s mail before she arrived. He opening his mailbox and those of sev- The scheme appears sophisticated, nessed the mail being delivered and said the woman continued walking up eral neighbors, possibly looking for and might not have been detected had the strangers inspecting mailboxes. particular items of correspondence. the resident not been home and wit- Officials looking into the scheme Continued as “Durham,” Page 14 Dream Teamers Looking to Work With GOP? PAID the leadership of our state — we know RALEIGH, NC U.S. POSTAGE that that’s the Republican Party,” said PERMIT NO. 1766 NONPROFIT ORG. Deferred-action Viridiana Martinez, who now calls Ra- leigh home. “We want to send a mes- adults disappointed sage that we want to sit down at a table and work together.” with Democrats “There’s been a lot of promises By Barry Smith and inaction from the Democratic Associate Editor Party; they’ve dominated the debate,” RALEIGH said Jose Torres-Don. “But it has been he McCrory administration’s de- very lacking in concrete steps to move cision to offer temporary driver’s forward.” licenses to some young-adult failure on the part of Democrats and Martinez and Torres-Don recent- Tillegal immigrants has led several of President Obama to deliver on a prom- ly were in North Carolina’s legislative the more outspoken activists to recon- ise, a couple of members of North Car- halls knocking on doors and present- sider their exclusive allegiance to self- olina’s “Dream Team” are knocking ing their case to members of the Gen- described progressive groups in North on Republicans’ doors, hoping to find eral Assembly. They said legislators Carolina that have been tied closely to common ground with members of that listened to them and requested more the state’s Democratic Party. party. The John Locke Foundation 200 W. Morgan St., #200 Raleigh, NC 27601 Frustrated by what they see as a “We want to send a message to Continued as “Dream,” Page 15 PAGE 2 APRIL 2013 | CAROLINA JOURNAL North CaroliNa C A R O L I N A Renewable Energy Job-Gain Claims Questioned By Dan Way because of the renewable energy mandates. JOURNAL Associate Editor “Clean energy development in the state led to the loss RALEIGH of 807 job-years. It has also led to the creation of 21,970 job- Rick Henderson conomic researchers say a study claiming more than years for a net positive of 21,163 job-years,” McCorkle said. Managing Editor 20,000 job-years were created in North Carolina as a The “slight negative to employment” occurred from con- Don Carrington result of legislation mandating the purchase of renew- sumer spending shifting from other sectors of the economy Executive Editor Eable energy likely exaggerates that outcome and downplays to renewable energy, she said. job losses. The study does not break out where those losses have Mitch Kokai, Michael Lowrey Paul Bachman, director of research at the Boston-based occurred, instead capturing them in a cumulative “second- Barry Smith, Dan Way Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University, said the job-years ary economic impact” category, she said. Associate Editors measure is a somewhat deceptive way to tally employment. Bachman questioned the study results and called He adds that many of the jobs that proponents say have them “typical of your standard Keynesian analysis.” Chad Adams, Kristy Bailey been created by the mandate are likely to be temporary po- In an August 2009 study for the John Locke Founda- David N. Bass, Lloyd Billingsley sitions in construction-related fields as new infrastructure tion, Beacon Hill Institute researchers concluded that S.B. 3 Kristen Blair, Sara Burrows (such as solar arrays and biofuel plants) are built to handle would lead to a net loss of 3,078 jobs by 2012 and 3,592 jobs Roy Cordato, Becki Gray a different type of energy. He also notes that the study fails by 2021. Sam A. Hieb, Lindalyn Kakadelis to account for job losses that occur inevitably when invest- Bachman called into question the RTI/La Capra Troy Kickler, George Leef ment is shifted from productive uses the market supports to study’s explanation that the 807 job-years loss is attribut- Elizabeth Lincicome, Karen McMahan higher-cost alternatives such as renewable energy. able to a $171 million renewable energy rider tax collected Donna Martinez, Karen Palasek State Rep. Mike Hager, R-Rutherford, said that such from ratepayers’ bills. Marc Rotterman, Michael Sanera criticism does not surprise him and that he is optimistic John Staddon, George Stephens “That’s a million dollars per job. That seems a bit low Terry Stoops, Andy Taylor House Bill 298, which would if they’re talking job years,” Michael Walden, Karen Welsh freeze utilities’ renewable en- Bachman said. Hal Young, John Calvin Young ergy mandate at its current He said the use of job- Contributors level of 3 percent of total en- years to measure employ- ergy purchases, will pass in ment is a bad tool because the House. “a job year is however many Joseph Chesser, Hubert Papes “I’ve got at least 63 years you’re counting a job as Mathew Schaeffer, Daniel Simpson members of my caucus lined Interns existing.” up and some Democrats will- If the job exists for five ing to vote on this, which years, “you’re five times dou- gives us a clear majority,” ble counting the job. It makes Published by Hager said. There are 120 no sense,” Bachman said. The John Locke Foundation House members, so Hager Another sentence in 200 W. Morgan St., # 200 would need 61 votes to send the study mentions that “an Raleigh, N.C. 27601 his measure to the Senate. average 4,233 jobs,” not job- (919) 828-3876 • Fax: 821-5117 Gov. Pat McCrory has www.JohnLocke.org years, are associated with not weighed in on Hager’s clean energy development legislation. In late March, over the six years since pas- Jon Ham House Speaker Thom Tillis, sage of S.B. 3. Vice President & Publisher R-Mecklenburg, told Wilm- “I believe job-years is a ington talk-radio host (and way of counting temporary John Hood Carolina Journal contributor) Chad Adams that Senate Bill jobs to make them look permanent,” Bachman said. For Chairman & President 3, the 2007 legislation mandating renewable energy pur- example, much of the employment generated as a result of chases, is “complex,” and it will “take some time” before S.B. 3 likely was construction jobs to build infrastructure for Herb Berkowitz, Charlie Carter the General Assembly considers unraveling it. Jim Fulghum, Chuck Fuller the new renewable market, he said. Those jobs pop up for a The intent of H.B. 298 is to claw back the portion of Bill Graham, Assad Meymandi while and go away. S.B. 3 that requires regularly scheduled increases in the per- Baker A. Mitchell Jr., Carl Mumpower “And, of course, they have all of these secondary in- centage of renewable energy purchases by utilities. Utilities David Stover, J.M Bryan Taylor duced jobs, and that’s standard Keynesian applications,” he Andy Wells pass on the higher costs to consumers.